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We estimate the causal effect of representation by regional political parties on political violence in India. The election of a regional party candidate increases the occurrence of a violent event and death in the home constituency of the elected representative by 7.2 percentage points and the number of violent events and deaths by 9.9 and 13.4 percent. These increases are explained by heightened secessionist violence between rebel groups and government forces. As regional parties and secessionist rebels have a shared history and overlapping agendas, our results support the notion of a quid pro quo, where regional party representatives facilitate or overlook rebel activities in their constituencies in exchange for rebel support at election time. Finally, we show violence increases only when the regional party representative is an outsider to the governing coalition, suggesting that these representatives undermine state capacity to control political violence when in opposition.

Structured thin films made of loss-free dielectric materials are widely used as efficient, ultracompact optical components or in complex integrated photonic systems. Suspended and highly pretensioned silicon nitride membranes in particular benefit from excellent mechanical and optical properties which allows them to be coupled by radiation pressure to the optical field of high finesse optical resonators or to be used as sensitive optomechanical devices.In this work, we first investigate the structural and mechanical properties of suspended silicon nitride membranes patterned with one-dimensional subwavelength gratings. We introduced noninvasive methods to extract the profile and key material properties of these fragile nanostructured films that prepare the basis for accurate numerical and finite element analyses (FEA) of both their mechanical and optical properties.The profilometry results are used as input to the numerical simulations to predict the transmission spectrum of these membranes when illuminated with linearly polarized monochromatic light at different incidence angles and an analytical coupled-mode model is developed to assess the effects of the collimation and finite size of the incoming beam.Finally, these characterization and simulation methods are used to tailor the optical properties of various patterned membranes in order to realize ultra compact optical spatial differentiators and high spectral resolution microcavities, as components for practical applications in photonics and sensing, respectively.

Darwin's panoramic view of biology encompassed two metaphors: the phylogenetic tree, pointing to relatively linear (and divergent) complexity, and the tangled bank, pointing to reticulated (and convergent) complexity. The emergence of phylogenetic systematics half a century ago made it possible to investigate linear complexity in biology. Assumption 0, first proposed in 1986, is not needed for cases of simple evolutionary patterns, but must be invoked when there are complex evolutionary patterns whose hallmark is reticulated relationships. A corollary of Assumption 0, the duplication convention, was proposed in 1990, permitting standard phylogenetic systematic ontology to be used in discovering reticulated evolutionary histories. In 2004, a new algorithm, phylogenetic analysis for comparing trees (PACT), was developed specifically for use in analyses invoking Assumption 0. PACT can help discern complex evolutionary explanations for historical biogeographical, coevolutionary, phylogenetic, and tokogenetic processes

Introduction: In Parkinson’s disease rest and action tremor may occur. High frequency deep brain stimulation in basal ganglia nuclei has proved to be effective in the suppression of tremor. In addition, rhythmic auditory cues have shown to result in improved performance of repetitive movements, possibly by suppressing action tremor. The aim of this study was to investigate if electrical stimulation has similar effects on rest and action tremor, and whether in case of action tremor, the effect of electrical stimulation is similar to or enhanced by auditory cueing. Methods: Three exercises were carried out by 7 Parkinson’s disease patients treated with deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus: 1) sitting at rest; 2) performing a hand tapping movement as fast as possible; 3) performing hand movements on the rhythm of an auditory cueing signal. Inertial sensors registered the movement of the hands during the tests. The exercises were repeated for four different stimulation settings. Results: Electrical stimulation may either enhance or suppress rest and/or action tremor. Power spectral density analysis shows that tremor suppression is accompanied by an increase in relative power in the low frequency band for both rest and action tremor. Most patients could (temporarily) phase lock their hand movements to the cueing signal of 1.6 Hz. Cueing signals at higher frequencies (3.2 and 4.8 Hz) could result in (n:m) phase locking of tremor as well as movement. Conclusion: Electrical stimulation results in a re-scaling of tremor, while auditory cueing may enhance suppression.

This paper discusses assimilation experiments of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) profiles retrieved from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). Here we focus on data versions 6 and 7 provided by the ESA processor. These data sets have been assimilated by the Belgian Assimilation System for Chemical ObsErvations (BASCOE). The CH4 and N2O retrieved profiles can oscillate, especially in the tropical lower stratosphere. Using the averaging kernels of the observations and a background error covariance matrix, which has previously been calibrated, allows the system to partly remedy this issue and provide assimilated fields that are more regular vertically. In general, there is a good agreement between the BASCOE analyses and independent observations from ACE-FTS (CH4 and N2O) and MLS (N2O), demonstrating the general good quality of CH4 and N2O retrievals provided by MIPAS ESA. Nevertheless, this study also identifies two issues in these data sets. First, time series of the observations show unexpected discontinuities due to an abrupt change in the gain of MIPAS band B, generally occurring after the instrument decontamination. Since the calibration is performed weekly, the abrupt change in the gain affects the measurements until the subsequent calibration is performed. Second, the correlations between BASCOE analyses and independent observations are poor in the lower stratosphere, especially in the tropics, probably due to the presence of outliers in the assimilated data. In this region, we recommend using MIPAS CH4 and N2O retrievals with caution.

Objective: To examine the risk of bias in chiropractic mixed methods research. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of a meta-epidemiological review of chiropractic mixed methods studies. We assessed risk of bias with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) and used generalized estimating equations to explore factors associated with risk of bias. Results: Among 55 eligible studies, a mean of 62% (6.8 [2.3]/11) of MMAT items were fulfilled. In our adjusted analysis, studies published since 2010 versus pre-2010 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39 to 3.68) and those published in journals with an impact factor versus no impact factor (aOR = 2.21; 95% CI, 1.33 to 3.68) were associated with lower risk of bias. Conclusion: Our findings suggest opportunities for improvement in the quality of conduct among published chiropractic mixed methods studies. Author compliance with the MMAT criteria may reduce methodological bias in future mixed methods research.

With these comments on the paper “Attitude of Physicians Towards Automatic Alerting in Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems”, written by Martin Jung and coauthors, with Dr. Elske Ammenwerth as senior author, the journal wants to stimulate a broad discussion on computerized physician order entry systems. An international group of experts have been invited by the editor of Methods to comment on this paper. Each of the invited commentaries forms one section of this paper.

Interactions among the three structural domains of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1 toxins were investigated by functional analysis of chimeric proteins. Hybrid genes were prepared by exchanging the regions coding for either domain I or domain III among Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1C, and Cry1E. The activity of the purified trypsin-activated chimeric toxins was evaluated by testing their effects on the viability and plasma membrane permeability of Sf9 cells. Among the parental toxins, only Cry1C was active against these cells and only chimeras possessing domain II from Cry1C were functional. Combination of domain I from Cry1E with domains II and III from Cry1C, however, resulted in an inactive toxin, indicating that domain II from an active toxin is necessary, but not sufficient, for activity. Pores formed by chimeric toxins in which domain I was from Cry1Ab or Cry1Ac were slightly smaller than those formed by toxins in which domain I was from Cry1C. The properties of the pores formed by the chimeras are therefore likely to result from an interaction between domain I and domain II or III. Domain III appears to modulate the activity of the chimeric toxins: combination of domain III from Cry1Ab with domains I and II of Cry1C gave a protein which was more strongly active than Cry1C.